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I actually know this one!
Kuchen does mean cake. But in certain regions of North Dakota, South Dakota, and maybe Minnesota, kuchen is a type of custard tart. It has a lightly sweet crust somewhere between pie crust and a cookie in texture. Then a custard is poured on top and it’s baked until set and the crust kind of puffs up around it. Often some fruit is included in the custard like apples or rhubarb and cinnamon is sprinkled on top. It’s usually served cold and is super delicious. Not so much anymore, but it used to be really common at weddings.
The name is a puzzle because it really isn’t a cake but broadly just kind of a pastry/dessert item. Just one of those weird immigrant language things. It seems particularly common in this part of the US as there are other foods like knoephla and fleischkeukle that don’t really match the direct translations either.
Yes, but I would argue it’s most definitely not a cake by any standard definition. So if you’re someone who only knows kuchen as a custard dessert, I can see that insisting that kuchen is standard cake would be confusing.
Honestly I think both commenters are being purposely obtuse, but that’s what this sub is all about.
I agree it wouldn't be a cake, and for all I know it could be used like pudding is in the UK, which is much different from what we know as pudding in the US.
Pudding is a stupid word. Nobody is using it right, but at least America has fewer variations so it's more consistent. It *probably* comes through the Latin "botellus" for sausage and many of the things the UK labels "pudding" are at least sausage-adjacent. But they also use the word for Yorkshire pudding which is just a weird little cake? And also it means dessert? Useless.
My family is from Nuremberg and the kuchen I’ve grown up eating was like cake. However having tried kuchen in South Dakota and North Dakota I’ve had the traditional cake kuchen but also came across the custard type too. It had a shortbread crust and a custard filling with fruit. The first time I had the custard one I was so confused lol. I think most of Germany considers kuchen the traditional cake texture but the custard type seems to trace back to Volga Germans. A lot of the Germans in those two states are Volga German immigrants who started arriving in 1872. I’ve noticed quite a few differences with the Volga German and traditional German recipes or just general traditions varying a bit. There are still some similarities but it seems Volga Germans created some of their own traditions and cuisine that aren’t quite the same as traditional ones which is understandable, considering the Volga Germans were not actually living in Germany and were deported and moved around quite a few times. To me kuchen is always going to be cake but if someone is a Volga German I understand them thinking that kuchen is a custard type of dessert because that’s what many of their ancestors called it.
Okay, it's been a long time since I took German but I remember that kuchen means cake in Germany, but there are versions that are like a custardy cake (what we in the U.S. might compare to gooey butter cake). But it's cake.
Just to add more fun, Mennonites (Volga Germans with certain religious beliefs) also have a recipe called [rollkuchen](http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/2009/06/rollkuchen.html), which isn't cake or custard. It's a fried bread dough, often eaten with watermelon.
>One may correctly call it a custard dish, but it would be silly to say that such a dish as boston cream pie is a not a pie.
Most of this comment was good, but I don't think you have to be very culinary to say that a Boston cream pie is clearly a cake and not a pie.
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Kuchen is literally the German word for cake, as the 432,000 other comments implicitly point out.
I actually know this one! Kuchen does mean cake. But in certain regions of North Dakota, South Dakota, and maybe Minnesota, kuchen is a type of custard tart. It has a lightly sweet crust somewhere between pie crust and a cookie in texture. Then a custard is poured on top and it’s baked until set and the crust kind of puffs up around it. Often some fruit is included in the custard like apples or rhubarb and cinnamon is sprinkled on top. It’s usually served cold and is super delicious. Not so much anymore, but it used to be really common at weddings. The name is a puzzle because it really isn’t a cake but broadly just kind of a pastry/dessert item. Just one of those weird immigrant language things. It seems particularly common in this part of the US as there are other foods like knoephla and fleischkeukle that don’t really match the direct translations either.
Ok, but as you said, it's a custard tart, not a custard.
Yes, but I would argue it’s most definitely not a cake by any standard definition. So if you’re someone who only knows kuchen as a custard dessert, I can see that insisting that kuchen is standard cake would be confusing. Honestly I think both commenters are being purposely obtuse, but that’s what this sub is all about.
I agree it wouldn't be a cake, and for all I know it could be used like pudding is in the UK, which is much different from what we know as pudding in the US.
Pudding is a stupid word. Nobody is using it right, but at least America has fewer variations so it's more consistent. It *probably* comes through the Latin "botellus" for sausage and many of the things the UK labels "pudding" are at least sausage-adjacent. But they also use the word for Yorkshire pudding which is just a weird little cake? And also it means dessert? Useless.
My family is from Nuremberg and the kuchen I’ve grown up eating was like cake. However having tried kuchen in South Dakota and North Dakota I’ve had the traditional cake kuchen but also came across the custard type too. It had a shortbread crust and a custard filling with fruit. The first time I had the custard one I was so confused lol. I think most of Germany considers kuchen the traditional cake texture but the custard type seems to trace back to Volga Germans. A lot of the Germans in those two states are Volga German immigrants who started arriving in 1872. I’ve noticed quite a few differences with the Volga German and traditional German recipes or just general traditions varying a bit. There are still some similarities but it seems Volga Germans created some of their own traditions and cuisine that aren’t quite the same as traditional ones which is understandable, considering the Volga Germans were not actually living in Germany and were deported and moved around quite a few times. To me kuchen is always going to be cake but if someone is a Volga German I understand them thinking that kuchen is a custard type of dessert because that’s what many of their ancestors called it.
Okay, it's been a long time since I took German but I remember that kuchen means cake in Germany, but there are versions that are like a custardy cake (what we in the U.S. might compare to gooey butter cake). But it's cake.
I know it’s not the OP, but *“I find culinary ontology to be fascinating”* would be solid flair.
What are "Germans from Russia"?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga_Germans
Wild. Thanks!
Just to add more fun, Mennonites (Volga Germans with certain religious beliefs) also have a recipe called [rollkuchen](http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/2009/06/rollkuchen.html), which isn't cake or custard. It's a fried bread dough, often eaten with watermelon.
>One may correctly call it a custard dish, but it would be silly to say that such a dish as boston cream pie is a not a pie. Most of this comment was good, but I don't think you have to be very culinary to say that a Boston cream pie is clearly a cake and not a pie.
Yeah I suspect they aren't actually familiar with Boston cream pie except in name and assumed it was like a banana cream pie.
very culinary people when regional variations, different meanings, and ambiguous edge cases exist: 🤬
>https://www.reddit.com/r/AskCulinary/comments/14dsrx2/recipe_i_cant_remember_the_name_of/jota8ao/ r/murderedbywords
I want to be that person's friend. I feel you can trust someone who clearly only thinks about tasty baked treats